50 years ago, a controversial science fiction author anticipated everything from Instagram to Netflix binging. Meanwhile his own publisher was destroying his books.
One would think that I'd be right there with you in your reluctance to recommend books like Crash (which I've read twice) & The Atrocity Exhibition (which I've read multiple times, most, but not first, in the RE/Search annotated edition that you cite). Among my friends, I'm fairly infamous for having a low tolerance for gratuitous sex and violence. I loathed Californication, due to gratuitous sex & nudity, and gave up on it after a few episodes. I abandoned Amazon's The Boys after episode 7 due to gratuitous violence. I bailed on Game of Thrones after season 3 due to both. Yet, I would recommend Crash & The Atrocity Exhibition to almost any discerning reader. Maybe not to my mother, may she rest in peace, although she was a fan of the Algonquin Round Table & of H. L. Mencken. But to most readers.
Otherwise, great essay! Your list is invaluable, and I've bookmarked the column in my permanent Literature folder.
I was Ballard's editor in the 1970s over a period that included Crash, High Rise and Concrete Island. Not a comfortable experience, and the disconnect between the nightmares I was working on and and the mild-mannered amiable fellow I had sessions with in his suburban semi-detached house was jarring. I used to lock the MS of Crash in my desk when I wasn't working on it in case impressionable people were traumatised by accident.
One would think that I'd be right there with you in your reluctance to recommend books like Crash (which I've read twice) & The Atrocity Exhibition (which I've read multiple times, most, but not first, in the RE/Search annotated edition that you cite). Among my friends, I'm fairly infamous for having a low tolerance for gratuitous sex and violence. I loathed Californication, due to gratuitous sex & nudity, and gave up on it after a few episodes. I abandoned Amazon's The Boys after episode 7 due to gratuitous violence. I bailed on Game of Thrones after season 3 due to both. Yet, I would recommend Crash & The Atrocity Exhibition to almost any discerning reader. Maybe not to my mother, may she rest in peace, although she was a fan of the Algonquin Round Table & of H. L. Mencken. But to most readers.
Otherwise, great essay! Your list is invaluable, and I've bookmarked the column in my permanent Literature folder.
I was Ballard's editor in the 1970s over a period that included Crash, High Rise and Concrete Island. Not a comfortable experience, and the disconnect between the nightmares I was working on and and the mild-mannered amiable fellow I had sessions with in his suburban semi-detached house was jarring. I used to lock the MS of Crash in my desk when I wasn't working on it in case impressionable people were traumatised by accident.
Maybe Ballard was just fluent in French... check out this clip from French Sci-Fi writer RƩnƩ Barjavel: https://goudaille.com/2020/06/28/le-futur-imagine-par-barjavel-en-1947/
I've read a lot of sci fi including Ballard and I still did a double take when I realised that this was 1947.